Researchers discover 'dermcidin'; a natural antibiotic to fight against dangerous bugs

An international team of scientists has discovered how an important natural antibiotic called dermcidin, produced by our skin when we sweat, is a highly efficient tool to fight tuberculosis germs and other dangerous bugs.
Their results could contribute to the development of new antibiotics that control multi-resistant bacteria.
Scientists have uncovered the atomic structure of the compound, enabling them to pinpoint for the first time what makes dermcidin such an efficient weapon in the battle against dangerous bugs.
Although about 1700 types of these natural antibiotics are known to exist, scientists did not until now have a detailed understanding of how they work.
The study, carried out by researchers from the University of Edinburgh and from Goettingen, Tuebingen and Strasbourg, is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Sweat spreads highly efficient antibiotics on to our skin, which protect us from dangerous bugs. If our skin becomes injured by a small cut, a scratch, or the sting of a mosquito, antibiotic agents secreted in sweat glands, such as dermcidin, rapidly and efficiently kill invaders.
These natural substances, known as antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), are more effective in the long term than traditional antibiotics, because germs are not capable of quickly developing resistance against them.
The antimicrobials can attack the bugs’ Achilles’ heel – their cell wall, which cannot be modified quickly to resist attack. Because of this, AMPs have great potential to form a new generation of antibiotics.
Scientists have known for some time that dermcidin is activated in salty, slightly acidic sweat. The molecule then forms tiny channels perforating the cell membrane of bugs, which are stabilised by charged particles of zinc present in sweat. As a consequence, water and charged particles flow uncontrollably across the membrane, eventually killing the harmful microbes.
Through a combination of techniques, scientists were able to determine the atomic structure of the molecular channel. They found that it is unusually long, permeable and adaptable, and so represents a new class of membrane protein.
The team also discovered that dermcidin can adapt to extremely variable types of membrane. Scientists say this could explain why active dermcidin is such an efficient broad-spectrum antibiotic, able to fend off bacteria and fungi at the same time.
The compound is active against many well-known pathogens such as tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, or Staphylococcus aureus. Multi-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus, in particular, have become an increasing threat for hospital patients. They are insensitive towards conventional antibiotics and so are difficult to treat. Staphylococcus aureus infections can lead to life-threatening diseases such as sepsis and pneumonia. The international team of scientists hopes that their results can contribute to the development of a new class of antibiotics that is able to attack such dangerous germs.
Dr Ulrich Zachariae of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Physics, who took part in the study, said: “Antibiotics are not only available on prescription. Our own bodies produce efficient substances to fend off bacteria, fungi and viruses. Now that we know in detail how these natural antibiotics work, we can use this to help develop infection-fighting drugs that are more effective than conventional antibiotics.”
Source:Pharmabiz

Why living against the clock is a risky business

Living against the clock—working late-night shifts or eating at inappropriate times, for example—can come with real health risks, metabolic syndrome, obesity, and diabetes among them. Now, researchers reporting in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, on February 21 have new evidence to explain why it matters not just what mice (or by extension, people) eat, but also when they eat it.
Insulin action rises and falls according to a 24-hour, circadian rhythm, the researchers found. What's more, mice unable to keep the time for one reason or another get stuck in an insulin-resistant and obesity-prone mode.
"We used to think some things were so important that they must be kept constant," says Carl Johnson of Vanderbilt University. "But those metabolic set points are changing as a function of the time of day."
Johnson's team took careful measurements of insulin in mice at different hours to reveal a regular pattern. Normal mice become insulin resistant during the day, when the nocturnal animals are mostly sleeping. Mice made unable to keep the time based on a genetic defect or constant exposure to light lost that rhythm. They also gained more weight when fed on high-fat mouse chow.
That responses to insulin would vary over the course of a day makes sense, even if it isn't the way scientists or doctors have often thought about it.
"From the work of Claude Bernard in the 19th century, the concept of homeostasis as the maintenance of a constant internal environment is deeply ingrained in our thinking about how organisms work," the researchers write. But it's also wrong, Johnson argues, for the simple reason that an animal's environment follows an obvious daily rhythm too. Evolution will favor organisms that have an optimal response to that environment, which is rhythmic.
And so it is that insulin action and blood sugar metabolism are tied to the time of day and to the internal mechanisms that keep track of that time. It's a challenging reality for us humans, living as we do today in the comfort of our homes, where the lights come on at the flip of a switch and the food is plentiful.
"Mediterranean diets in which the main meal is eaten in the middle of the day are probably healthier," Johnson says. It's probably best to eat a light supper and avoid snacking after dinner.
Diets that only limit when people eat surely won't reverse the epidemic of obesity, he says, but they would probably help.
Source:Cell Press 

New Regulations Required For 'Growing' Medicines in Plants

Amending an EU directive on GMOs could help stimulate innovation in making vaccines, cheaper pharmaceuticals and organic plastics using plants according to scientists.In a paper to be published in Current Pharmaceutical Design, six scientists from the US and Europe compare risk assessment and regulation between the two continents. They will run a web chat on the subject with Sense About Science from 12-1 on Wednesday 20th February. 
In the EU, plant-made pharmaceuticals have to be authorised in the same way as GM agricultural crops. In theory, agricultural crops can be grown by any farmer in the EU once approved. But for crops producing pharmaceuticals this would never actually happen. Drug companies would likely license farmers to grow these crops under controlled, defined and confined conditions. 
"We need tight regulations enforced by continuous oversight to encourage investment, while maintaining trust," said Dr Penny Sparrow from the John Innes Centre. 
"This will be of high importance, especially in Europe, where the issues surrounding the cultivation of GM agricultural crops remains a contentious concern." 
"Plant-made pharmaceuticals challenge two sets of existing EU regulations and to make progress in this area we need to make sure they are applied sensibly to allow pharmaceuticals to be produced in plants." 
Advantages of using plants to produce therapeutic proteins include the ability to produce large quantities quickly and cheaply, the absence of human pathogens, the stability of the proteins and the ease with which raw material can be stored as seed. This could be of huge benefit in developing countries where problems with storage can render vaccines useless. 
If seed could be transported to local production and extraction facilities, the technology could also help boost local economies. The technology is also known as "plant molecular farming". 
Just one farm growing 16,000 acres of safflower could meet the world's total demand for insulin. But potential cost savings are eliminated under current regulations, set up for GM agricultural crops not pharmaceuticals. 
The average cost for having GMOs approved in Europe is estimated at €7-10 million per event, compared to $1-2 million in the US. This helps keep Europe behind in exploiting the potential of these technologies. 
"Openness and transparency are needed to develop new regulations that work for the public and for investors," said Sparrow. 
"Regulations need to be harmonised across the world, in order to keep advances and competition on a level playing field." 
They propose amendments to EU Directive 2001/18 to allow pharmaceutical products from GM plants to be commercialised without needing authorisation to enter the human food or animal feed chain. Instead, the scientists say they should be grown under clearly defined and enforced conditions to keep the food and animal feed chain 'contamination free'. 
As each GM plant moves from the laboratory to scaled-up production in a greenhouse or field, additional oversight is needed to consider issues with environmental release and the ultimate use by humans. Measures can include those adopted in the US, such as limited acreage, confinement, fallow zones and only supplying seed to farmers specifically contracted to grow PMPs. 
Dr Sparrow was involved in a collaboration with EU partners to road test the challenges faced by potential investors. They chose the first plant-derived anti-HIV monoclonal antibody to be tested in humans. It was isolated, purified and formulated as a topical saline solution. One result of the project was preparing a regulatory pathway that others could follow to take a product into clinical trials. Another was establishing good manufacturing practices for biologically active proteins expressed in transgenic.
Source:Current Pharmaceutical Design

 

 

Junk Foods and Hepatitis C

Hepatitis C is a life threatening condition that affects the liver. It is generally thought to affect the alcohol consuming population. Off late, the researches have confirmed that regular consumption of junk food can have the same negative effects on the liver that has been caused by hepatitis C.The main reason behind this is the accumulation of saturated fats in the liver leading to a condition called fatty liver. The increased amount of fats that accumulates causes damage to the liver cells. A fatty liver can cause accelerated liver damage than otherwise. The liver needs time and space to digest the fat present in foods. Due to excess accumulation there is no space between fat digestion and absorption eventually leading to liver damage. 
Junk foods include hamburgers, fried chicken, onion rings, French fries etc. Researches have proven that French fries are more dangerous as they not only contain excess salt but also sugar as the people selling French fries add sugar to the potato chunks to make it golden crisp. This adds to the fat content already present in French fries. It goes to all the other golden fried foods. 
Even salads served in the restaurants are considered dangerous due to the use of anti - freeze chemicals that help to retain the flavors of the salad stored in refrigeration. The chemical component present in this anti - freeze agent is called propylene glycol that poses a danger to the liver. 
The common symptoms associated with hepatitis C are fatigue, joint pain, and yellowish discoloration of urine, jaundice, loss of appetite, liver failure. The same could be seen as the effect of regular intake of junk foods. The best way to prevent the symptoms associated with this is to avoid junk foods as much as possible. An occasional intake does not do as much harm as those consuming it regularly. 
The ways to prevent the occurrence could be by either reducing or completely stopping the intake of junk foods, detoxification of the body on a regular basis, avoidance of alcohol, sugar and salt, proper exercise, avoidance of self-medication and less fat intake. 

  

Eating Avocados Linked With Better Diet, All-around Health

A new study has linked avocados consumption with a better diet quality and nutrient intake level. It also helps lower intake of added sugars, lower body weight, BMI and waist circumferences, higher "good cholesterol" levels and lower metabolic syndrome risk.Specifically, the survey data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2001-2008, of 17,567 US adults ages 19 years and older, revealed that the 347 adults (50 percent female) who consumed avocados in any amount during a 24-hour dietary recording period had several significantly better nutrient intake levels and more positive health indicators than those who did not consume avocados. 
Among the avocado consumers, average daily consumption was about one half (70.1 +/- 5.4 g/day) of a medium sized avocado, somewhat higher in male avocado consumers (75.3 +/-6.3 g/day) than females (66.7 +/- 7.3 g/day). 
According to the study, Avocado consumers more closely adhered to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans than those who did not eat avocados, as measured by the Healthy Eating Index (HEI). 
Avocado consumers had significantly higher intakes of certain important nutrients including 36 percent more dietary fiber, 23 percent more vitamin E, 13 percent more magnesium, 16 percent more potassium and 48 percent more vitamin K than non-consumers. 
Avocado consumers also had significantly higher intakes of "good" fats (18 percent more monounsaturated and 12 percent more polyunsaturated) and total fats (11 percent more) than non-consumers, although average caloric intake of both groups was the same. 
The study found that Avocado consumers had a 50 percent lower odds ratio for metabolic syndrome compared to non-consumers. 
Metabolic syndrome is a name given to a group of risk factors which, when they occur together, increase the risk for coronary artery disease, stroke and type-2 diabetes. 
The results were published in the Nutrition Journal.
Source-ANI
 

 

ICMR soon to begin research in broader areas of 'Gender and Health'

In order to address the major issues related to gender which have a strong bearing on the health of women and men, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) will soon begin research in the broad areas of 'Gender and Health'.
The priority areas of research include the providers/health system related issues like responsiveness of health facilities to gender issues; feasibility of training health care providers to address gender and violence issues; providers perspectives on gender issues in health care; and social consequences of inter-sex disorders. The priority areas of research in community related issues are barriers for women to seek health care; perspectives of men and women on gender matters; adolescents and youths attitudes and practices about gender and social norms; and workplace sexual harassment issues.
Senior officials in the ICMR are of the view that to address these issues related to gender a multi-pronged, multi-sectorial, including public health response, strategies are required.
The ICMR's initiative in this regard is of significance as sex and gender are considered major determinants of health. The interaction of these two results into differential risks and vulnerability to ill health, health seeking behavior, treatment and care, health outcome, and impact for men and women.
Senior ICMR officials said that the role of gender in public health is now widely recognized and forms part of many programmes. Therefore, it is important to have a gender based, instead of sex based, analysis on a continuous basis to monitor/understand the situation in relation to these gender issues and accordingly tailor gender sensitive service and research programmes which lead to gender balanced development.
Officials said that major issues related to gender which have a strong bearing on the health of women and men are gender related violence, rape and sexual violence, forced/non-consensual sex/unwanted sex, gender and reproductive health, work place sexual harassment, immoral trafficking and forced prostitution, child abuse both sexual and physical, son preference, female foeticide and discrimination between boys and girls.
Gender and sex are, most often, used interchangeably, though the two are different but related constructs. While sex is a biological concept, gender refers to socially determined roles and norms governing the life style of the two sexes. Gender influences the control men and women have over the determinants of their health e.g. economic position, social status, access to resources and services and their behaviours.

Source:Pharmabiz

Documentation of scientific evidence of Ayurveda must to compete with modern medicines: MVS Valiathan

Scientific evidence of ayurvedic treatment is a must to compete with modern medicines and acceptance of Ayurveda, explained Padma Vibhushan, Professor MVS Valiathan, of  the University of Hyderabad.
As ayurvedic treatment is getting increasing acceptance and popularity for its healing powers across the globe, scientific evidence with documented proofs are a must for it to sustain and compete with modern medicines.
In many cases, ayurvedic treatment has shown effective cures for deadly diseases like cancers and other aliments with least side effects, but its lack of scientific evidence with documented data is blocking it to compete with modern medicines.
To unearth the hidden secrets of ayurvedic treatment and its healing powers, doctors and researchers must work in collaboration and document all scientific evidences. Already many scientists in America and Europe have shown keen interest to work in collaboration with doctors practising Ayurveda but their Indian counterparts showed little interest, opined Valiathan.
With cancer turning into a major killer, there is a strong need for research on the age-old medicine and find cure which would save thousands of people from severe radiation, he said.
In an interview Prof. Valiathan, had said Ayurveda is not only the mother of medicine but also of all life sciences in India. In spite of it, the science has been completely divorced from Ayurveda. But these are the interdisciplinary areas where advances will take place.
“We require Ayurveda professionals to give up age-old norms and accept the treatment that is scientifically documented, researched and accepted. Only then will it become a model treatment,” he said.
The vice-chancellor in charge of University of Hyderabad, Professor E Haribabu felt that a scientific temper of research required a strong initiative from young researchers whose investigations would go a long way in propagating the age-old rasayanas.
Professor MVS Valiathan is an Indian cardiac surgeon. He grew his interest in Ayurveda as its healing powers had no side effects. He has been awarded Padma Vibhushan in the year 2005 for his exemplary contributions in the field of Medicine. He is a former president of the Indian National Science Academy and contributed to the development of medical technology in India. Currently he is a National Research Professor for the Government of India who is pioneering scientific studies in "Ayurveda" and has authored several books on the subject.
Source:Pharmabiz

Reprogramming cells to fight diabetes

For years researchers have been searching for a way to treat diabetics by reactivating their insulin-producing beta cells, with limited success. The "reprogramming" of related alpha cells into beta cells may one day offer a novel and complementary approach for treating type 2 diabetes. Treating human and mouse cells with compounds that modify cell nuclear material called chromatin induced the expression of beta cell genes in alpha cells, according to a new study that appears online in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
"This would be a win-win situation for diabetics - they would have more insulin-producing beta cells and there would be fewer glucagon-producing alpha cells," says lead author Klaus H. Kaestner, Ph.D., professor of Genetics and member of the Institute of Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. Type 2 diabetics not only lack insulin, but they also produce too much glucagon.
Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes are caused by insufficient numbers of insulin-producing beta cells. In theory, transplantation of healthy beta cells – for type 1 diabetics in combination with immunosuppression to control autoimmunity - should halt the disease, yet researchers have not yet been able to generate these cells in the lab at high efficiency, whether from embryonic stem cells or by reprogramming mature cell types.
Alpha cells are another type of endocrine cell in the pancreas. They are responsible for synthesizing and secreting the peptide hormone glucagon, which elevates glucose levels in the blood.
"We treated human islet cells with a chemical that inhibits a protein that puts methyl chemical groups on histones, which - among many other effects - leads to removal of some histone modifications that affect gene expression," says Kaestner. "We then found a high frequency of alpha cells that expressed beta-cell markers, and even produced some insulin, after drug treatment.
Histones are protein complexes around which DNA strands are wrapped in a cell's nucleus.
The team discovered that many genes in alpha cells are marked by both activating- and repressing-histone modifications. This included many genes important in beta-cell function. In one state, when a certain gene is turned off, the gene can be readily activated by removing a modification that represses the histone.
"To some extent human alpha cells appear to be in a 'plastic' epigenetic state," explains Kaestner. "We reasoned we might use that to reprogram alpha cells towards the beta-cell phenotype to produce these much-needed insulin-producing cells."
Source:Journal of Clinical Investigation

Flipping the 'off' switch on cell growth

Protein uses multiple means to help cells cope when oxygen runs low

A protein known for turning on genes to help cells survive low-oxygen conditions also slows down the copying of new DNA strands, thus shutting down the growth of new cells, Johns Hopkins researchers report. Their discovery has wide-ranging implications, they say, given the importance of this copying — known as DNA replication — and new cell growth to many of the body's functions and in such diseases as cancer.
"We've long known that this protein, HIF-1α, can switch hundreds of genes on or off in response to low oxygen conditions," says Gregg Semenza, M.D., Ph.D., a molecular biologist who led the research team and has long studied the role of low-oxygen conditions in cancer, lung disease and heart disorders. "We've now learned that HIF-1α is even more versatile than we thought, as it can work directly to stop new cells from forming." A report on the discovery appears in the Feb. 12 issue of Science Signaling.
With his team, Semenza, who is the C. Michael Armstrong Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine's Institute for Cell Engineering and Institute for Genomic Medicine, discovered HIF-1α in the 1990s and has studied it ever since, pinpointing a multitude of genes in different types of cells that have their activity ramped up or down by the activated protein. These changes in so-called "gene expression" help cells survive when oxygen-rich blood flow to an area slows or stops temporarily; they also allow tumors to build new blood vessels to feed themselves.
To learn how HIF-1α's own activity is controlled, the team looked for proteins from human cells that would attach to HIF-1α. They found two, MCM3 and MCM7, that limited HIF-1α's activity, and were also part of the DNA replication machinery. Those results were reported in 2011.
In the new research, Semenza and his colleagues further probed HIF-1α's relationship to DNA replication by comparing cells in low-oxygen conditions to cells kept under normal conditions. They measured the amount of DNA replication complexes in the cells, as well as how active the complexes were. The cells kept in low-oxygen conditions, which had stopped dividing, had just as much of the DNA replication machinery as the normal dividing cells, the researchers found; the difference was that the machinery wasn't working. It turned out that in the nondividing cells, HIF-1α was binding to a protein that loads the DNA replication complex onto DNA strands, and preventing the complex from being activated.
"Our experiments answered the long-standing question of how, exactly, cells stop dividing in response to low oxygen," says Maimon Hubbi, Ph.D., a member of Semenza's team who is now working toward an M.D. degree. "It also shows us that the relationship between HIF-1α and the DNA replication complex is reciprocal — that is, each can shut the other down."
Source:John Hopkins University School of Medicine

Hindus ask probe into cancer research deaths in India

Hindus have questioned and urged a through probe into the ethical standards behind two major cancer studies on mostly poor women in India in which over 79 reportedly died.

 Reports suggest that these separate studies which are still continuing, funded by Gates Foundation and US National Cancer Institute, over the years monitored the progressing of cervical cancer in group of women but did not screen them all. One study did not adequately inform thousands of women participants about cancer screening alternatives and adequate informed consent was not obtained. The other study tracked thousands of women but did not routinely screen or treat them all. Researchers monitored and compared the death rates of control groups of women who were not screened for cancer with groups who were screened and treated.

 Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, asked: Were the unscreened controlled groups ethically appropriate? Doing research in a developing country did not exclude the researchers from their responsibilities towards the human subjects in their control groups, Zed stressed.

 Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, noted that this appeared to be unethical use of human subjects for experimentation. Using women’s deaths as a gauge in the study was unnecessary and sad.

 Rajan Zed stated that research ethical standards should be same world over. Exploitation of subjects should end and stricter regulations needed to be enforced worldwide.

 Zed pointed out that even if the women signed consent forms as claimed, how many of them actually understood what they were signing for.

 These studies reportedly recruited thousands of poor women with low literacy rates from Mumbai slums and poor villages of India. Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai reportedly conducted one of the studies.

WANTED: A LIFE OUTSIDE THE WORKPLACE

A memo to employers: Just because your workers live alone doesn’t mean they don’t have lives beyond the office.New research at Michigan State University suggests the growing number of workers who are single and without children have trouble finding the time or energy to participate in non-work interests, just like those with spouses and kids.Workers struggling with work-life balance reported less satisfaction with their lives and jobs and more signs of anxiety and depression.“People in the study repeatedly said I can take care of my job demands, but then I have no time for working out, volunteering in my community, pursuing friendships or anything else,” said Ann Marie Ryan, MSU professor of psychology and study co-author.Traditionally, companies have focused on helping workers find “work-family” balance. The broader new concept is called “work-life,” though for many employers it remains just that – a concept, said Jessica Keeney, study co-author and recent doctoral graduate in psychology at MSU.“As organizations strive to implement more inclusive HR policies, they might consider offering benefits such as flexible work arrangements to a wider audience than just parents,” said Keeney, who works for APTMetrics, a human resources consulting firm. “Simply relabeling programs from ‘work-family’ to ‘work-life’ is not enough; it may also require a shift in organizational culture.”Take, for example, an employee who is single and without children and wants to leave work early to train for a triathlon, Ryan said. Should that employee have any less right to leave early than the one who wants to catch her child’s soccer game at 4 p.m.?“Why is one more valued than the other?” Ryan said. “We have to recognize that non-work roles beyond family also have value.”Childlessness among employees has been increasing in the United States, particularly among female managers, the study notes. Further, a large portion of employees today are single and live alone.The research encompassed two studies of nearly 5,000 university alumni. Roughly 70 percent of the participants were married or in a domestic partnership and about 44 percent had one or more children living at home. The participants worked in a wide range of industries including health care, business, education and engineering.The three areas in which work interfered the most for all participants were health (which includes exercising and doctor’s appointments); family; and leisure (which includes hobbies, playing sports and reading and watching TV).Ryan said the findings were similar for both workers with families and those without. Each group reported challenges with maintaining friendships, taking care of their health and finding leisure time – and this had negative effects above and beyond the challenges of balancing work and family.The findings were published in the Journal of Vocational Behavior. The other co-authors were MSU doctoral graduates Elizabeth Boyd, Ruchi Sinha and Alyssa Westring.

Source:Journal of Vocational Behavior

Scientists unveil secrets of important natural antibiotic

An international team of scientists has discovered how an important natural antibiotic called dermcidin, produced by our skin when we sweat, is a highly efficient tool to fight tuberculosis germs and other dangerous bugs.
Their results could contribute to the development of new antibiotics that control multi-resistant bacteria.
Scientists have uncovered the atomic structure of the compound, enabling them to pinpoint for the first time what makes dermcidin such an efficient weapon in the battle against dangerous bugs.
Although about 1700 types of these natural antibiotics are known to exist, scientists did not until now have a detailed understanding of how they work.
The study, carried out by researchers from the University of Edinburgh and from Goettingen, Tuebingen and Strasbourg, is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Sweat spreads highly efficient antibiotics on to our skin, which protect us from dangerous bugs. If our skin becomes injured by a small cut, a scratch, or the sting of a mosquito, antibiotic agents secreted in sweat glands, such as dermcidin, rapidly and efficiently kill invaders.
These natural substances, known as antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), are more effective in the long term than traditional antibiotics, because germs are not capable of quickly developing resistance against them.
The antimicrobials can attack the bugs' Achilles' heel – their cell wall, which cannot be modified quickly to resist attack. Because of this, AMPs have great potential to form a new generation of antibiotics.
Scientists have known for some time that dermcidin is activated in salty, slightly acidic sweat. The molecule then forms tiny channels perforating the cell membrane of bugs, which are stabilised by charged particles of zinc present in sweat. As a consequence, water and charged particles flow uncontrollably across the membrane, eventually killing the harmful microbes.
Through a combination of techniques, scientists were able to determine the atomic structure of the molecular channel. They found that it is unusually long, permeable and adaptable, and so represents a new class of membrane protein.
The team also discovered that dermcidin can adapt to extremely variable types of membrane. Scientists say this could explain why active dermcidin is such an efficient broad-spectrum antibiotic, able to fend off bacteria and fungi at the same time.
The compound is active against many well-known pathogens such as tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, or Staphylococcus aureus. Multi-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus, in particular, have become an increasing threat for hospital patients. They are insensitive towards conventional antibiotics and so are difficult to treat. Staphylococcus aureusinfections can lead to life-threatening diseases such as sepsis and pneumonia. The international team of scientists hopes that their results can contribute to the development of a new class of antibiotics that is able to attack such dangerous germs.
Dr Ulrich Zachariae of the University of Edinburgh's School of Physics, who took part in the study, said: "Antibiotics are not only available on prescription. Our own bodies produce efficient substances to fend off bacteria, fungi and viruses. Now that we know in detail how these natural antibiotics work, we can use this to help develop infection-fighting drugs that are more effective than conventional antibiotics."
Source:University of Edinburgh

Circadian clock linked to obesity, diabetes and heart attacks

Disruption in the body's circadian rhythm can lead not only to obesity, but can also increase the risk of diabetes and heart disease.
That is the conclusion of the first study to show definitively that insulin activity is controlled by the body's circadian biological clock. The study, which was published on Feb. 21 in the journalCurrent Biology, helps explain why not only what you eat, but when you eat, matters.
The research was conducted by a team of Vanderbilt scientists directed by Professor of Biological Sciences Carl Johnson and Professors of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics Owen McGuinness and David Wasserman.
"Our study confirms that it is not only what you eat and how much you eat that is important for a healthy lifestyle, but when you eat is also very important," said postdoctoral fellow Shu-qun Shi, who performed the experiment with research assistant Tasneem Ansari in the Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Mouse Metabolic Phenotyping Center.
In recent years, a number of studies in both mice and men have found a variety of links between the operation of the body's biological clock and various aspects of its metabolism, the physical and chemical processes that provide energy and produce, maintain and destroy tissue. It was generally assumed that these variations were caused in response to insulin, which is one of the most potent metabolic hormones. However, no one had actually determined that insulin action follows a 24-hour cycle or what happens when the body's circadian clock is disrupted.
Because they are nocturnal, mice have a circadian rhythm that is the mirror image of that of humans: They are active during the night and sleep during the day. Otherwise, scientists have found that the internal timekeeping system of the two species operate in nearly the same way at the molecular level. Most types of cells contain their own molecular clocks, all of which are controlled by a master circadian clock in the suprachiasmatic nucleus in the brain.
"People have suspected that our cells' response to insulin had a circadian cycle, but we are the first to have actually measured it," said McGuinness. "The master clock in the central nervous system drives the cycle and insulin response follows."
Insulin, which is made in the pancreas, plays a key role in regulating the body's fat and carbohydrate metabolism. When we eat, our digestion breaks down the carbohydrates in our food into the simple sugar glucose, which is absorbed into the blood stream. Too much glucose in the blood is toxic, so one of insulin's roles is to stimulate transfer of glucose into our cells, thereby removing excess glucose from the blood. Specifically, insulin is required to move glucose into liver, muscle and fat cells. It also blocks the process of burning fat for energy.
Insulin action – the hormone's ability to remove glucose from the blood – can be reduced by a number of factors and is termed insulin resistance. The study found that normal "wild-type" mouse tissues are relatively resistant to insulin during the inactive/fasting phase whereas they become more sensitive to insulin (therefore better able to transfer glucose out of the blood) during the high activity/feeding phase of their 24-hour cycle. As a result, glucose is converted primarily into fat during the inactive phase and used for energy and to other tissue building during the high activity phase.
"That is why it is good to fast every day...not eat anything between dinner and breakfast," said Johnson.
The researchers also examined what happened to insulin action when the circadian clocks of individual mice are disrupted.
One approach that they used was to study special "knock-out" mice that had one of the genes necessary for proper biological clock function removed. They found these mice appeared to be locked in an insulin-resistant mode around the clock comparable to the inactive/fasting phase. After feeding on a high-fat diet, they tended to gain more weight and carry more fat than wild-type mice. However, supplying them with the protein produced by the missing gene re-established their circadian rhythm, reduced their insulin resistance and prevented them from gaining excess fat.
Another approach was to place normal "wild-type" mice in a constantly lit environment that disrupted their circadian cycle. In this case, they found the mice were locked in the inactive/fasting phase, developed a higher proportion of body fat and gained more weight on a high-fat diet than wild-type mice despite actually eating less food. Obesity and the insulin resistance that accompanies it, increases the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
According to the researchers, this helps explain the increased frequency of obesity and diabetes among night-shift workers and people suffering from disruption of their clocks and normal sleep patterns.
The researchers also found that high-fat diets disrupted the circadian clock of wild-type mice living in a normal day/night cycle. As a result, their insulin cycle defaulted to the inactive/fasting phase, which helps explain why high-fat diets lead to weight gain.
Source:Vanderbilt University 

Potential Epigenetic Mechanisms for Improved Cancer Therapy Proposed

Boston University School of Medicine researchers have proposed a novel epigenetic hypothesis linked to tumor production and novel ideas about what causes progenitor cells to develop into cancer cells. Published in the February 2013 issue of Epigenomics, the article provides examples of how epigenetic drug treatments could be beneficial in treating cancers while also decreasing the likelihood of cancer relapse.The article was written by researchers at the Boston University Cancer Center. Sibaji Sarkar, PhD, adjunct instructor of medicine at BUSM, is the article's corresponding author. 

Cancer is a complex disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth, division and invasion into other tissues. A 2004 review article published in Nature Medicine suggests that epigenetics, which is the phenomena whereby genetically identical cells express their genes differently resulting in different phenotypes and other factors play an important role in the formation of cancer originating from cancer stem cells. 
Sarkar and colleagues propose that epigenetic processes, specifically DNA methylation, may trigger cancer progenitor cell formation from somatic cells in coordination with other cellular and environmental events. DNA methylation is a process that changes the DNA and causes genes to be silenced. In the absence of definitive proof of the existence of cancer stem cells, this hypothesis discusses a possible explanation for the formation and existence of cells that may develop into cancer. The researchers also explore why only some individuals develop cancer, despite identical genetic predispositions. 
In cancer cells, the enzyme that maintains high levels of methylation in tumor suppressor genes is highly expressed, allowing uncontrolled growth. At the same time, many oncogenes, or genes with the potential to cause cancer, are activated and have lower levels of methylation. The apparent anomaly of the existence of both low and high rates of methylation could be explained with either the compartmentalization of these two processes and/or by the existence of both a methylation and demethylation system operating simultaneously at specific locations with the help of various accessory proteins. 
The authors hypothesize the existence of both DNA methylating and demethylating enzymes in cells that regulate the methylation and demethylation process. Accessory proteins and/or small RNA factors could lead these enzymes to their sites of actions, resulting in some genes remaining methylated and others not methylated simultaneously within the same cellular environment. DNA sequences around the regions that are methylated and demethylated may also play role in these events. During drug treatments, the demethylating system dominates while the methylating enzyme is down-regulated, resulting in re-expression of silenced genes. 
Recent studies have shown that epigenetic drug treatments prior to and with standard chemotherapy reduce the chance of cancer relapse. 
"Progenitors are known to cause cancer relapse, and because epigenetic drugs can help destroy progenitor cells, these drugs could help reduce the chance of cancer relapse and improve the long-term outcomes of people with cancer," said Sarkar. "While our hypotheses are based on current knowledge, we are proposing important and exciting areas to be explored in the future." 
Source:Boston University School of Medicine

 

Bracelet-Like Device Controls Chronic Acid Reflux: Study

According to a study published online today in the New England Journal of Medicine, a bracelet-like device with magnetic beads can control the chronic digestive disorder.
The device encircles the valve at the junction of the esophagus and stomach and helps it stay closed when a person is not eating or drinking. It eased symptoms in 92 of 100 patients with chronic acid reflux and allowed 87 percent of patients to stop using acid-suppressing drugs, third-year results from the five-year study showed. Ninety four percent of patients were satisfied with the treatment. 
The advance is significant, says study co-author C. Daniel Smith, M.D., chair of the Surgery Department at Mayo Clinic in Florida and a specialist in treating reflux disease. Mayo Clinic is the only medical center in Florida and one of two in the Southeast to help study the device. Mayo Clinic in Arizona also offers treatment with the device. 
"This is the first new, safe and effective treatment we have to treat reflux disease in 20 years," Dr. Smith says. "The device is simple, elegant and functional, and it provides an opportunity to help a very large number of patients. The only treatment options in the past have been acid-suppressing agents or surgery. Acid-suppressing agents don''t directly address the underlying ineffective valve, leaving patients with persistent symptoms; surgery can lead to distressing side effects of bloating and inability to vomit in 20 percent of patients. These side effects occurred rarely with this new device." 
Roughly 1 in 3 people in the United States have the chronic condition, the American Gastroenterological Association estimates. It can lead to serious health problems. 
Acid reflux stems from a deficient or incompetent sphincter valve located at the bottom of the esophagus and the top of the stomach. The sphincter, a ring of muscle, normally stays constricted when a person is not eating; that prevents acid and other digestive juice from leaving the stomach and entering the esophagus. 
If the muscle is too weak or relaxes inappropriately, stomach acid can work its way into the lining of the esophagus causing pain and burning - commonly known as heartburn - and regurgitation. These episodes can happen at any time, and in people of all ages. 
Excessive acid can damage the esophagus and lead to a precancerous condition known as Barrett''s esophagus and to esophageal cancer, which is rising rapidly in the U.S., Dr. Smith says. The epidemic of chronic acid reflux may explain the increase in cancer, he says. Dr. Smith has been offering the device to patients who qualify since March 2012, when the Food and Drug Administration approved it for use. He performs about 200 acid reflux-related surgeries a year. 
Installation of the device is minimally invasive and takes one to two hours. After the procedure, patients stay overnight in the hospital. 
Patients who may be helped by the device are those whose acid reflux is chronic with symptoms incompletely controlled by acid-suppressing drugs, Dr. Smith says. 
Not all patients in the study fared well with the device. Serious adverse events occurred in six patients, and the device was removed in 4 patients without any significant long-term consequences. Dysphagia - difficulty swallowing - occurred in 68 percent of patients following installation of the device, but this side effect tapered off over time.
Source-Newswise
 

 

A diet of resistant starch helps the body resist colorectal cancer

As the name suggests, you can’t digest resistant starch so it ends up in the bowel in pretty much the same form it entered your mouth. As unlovely as that seems, once in the bowel this resistant starch does some important things, including decreasing bowel pH and transit time, and increasing the production of short-chain fatty acids. These effects promote the growth of good bugs while keeping bad bugs at bay. A University of Colorado Cancer Center review published in this month’s issue of the journalCurrent Opinion in Gastroenterology shows that resistant starch also helps the body resist colorectal cancer through mechanisms including killing pre-cancerous cells and reducing inflammation that can otherwise promote cancer.“Resistant starch is found in peas, beans and other legumes, green bananas, and also in cooked and cooled starchy products like sushi rice and pasta salad. You have to consume it at room temperate or below – as soon as you heat it, the resistant starch is gone. But consumed correctly, it appears to kill pre-cancerous cells in the bowel,” says Janine Higgins, PhD, CU Cancer Center investigator and associate professor of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.Higgins describes studies showing that rats fed resistant starch show decreased numbers and sizes of lesions due to colorectal cancer, and an increased number of cells that express the protein IL-10, which acts to regulate the body’s inflammatory response.”Resistant starch may also have implications for the prevention of breast cancer,” Higgins says. “For example, if you let rats get obese, get them to lose the weight, and then feed half of the rats a diet high in resistant starch – these rats don’t gain back the weight as fast as rats fed a regular, digestible starch diet.  This effect on obesity may help to reduce breast cancer risk as well as having implications for the treatment of colorectal cancer.”“There are a lot of things that feed into the same model of resistant starch as a cancer-protective agent,” Higgins says. “Much of this information currently comes from rodent models and small clinical trials but the evidence is encouraging.”  On the table now is a menu of benefits and while it’s just now being studied which benefits, exactly, will pan out as mechanisms of cancer prevention, one thing is clear: resistant starch should be on the menu.

Source:University of Colorado cancer centre

Arya Vaidya Pharmacy Research develops Dhara to offer Ayurveda info in quick & easy search format

Arya Vaidya Pharmacy (AVP) Research team has now developed an online information technology tool titled ‘Dhara’ which provides information on ayurveda in a quick and easy search format.
Dhara is an acronym for “Digital Helpline for Ayurveda Research Articles”. The search tool provides access to published results of conducted on ayurvedic ingredients and treatment among others. So far there has been no database on Ayurveda in electronic format and this is a first online indexing system for Ayurveda researchers, according to AVP, Dr Ram Manohar, director, AVP Research Foundation told Pharmabiz.
It is not just a compendium of herbal plants but comprises of Ayutexts which are Ayurveda articles created on similar lines that of the international journal PubMed. The initiative was carried out with a funding of Rs.10 lakh from Central Council for Research in Ayurveda and Siddha (CCRAS).
There are original graphical texts depicted of Sushruta Samhita, Ashtanga Hrdayam, Charaka Samhita and Sarangadhara Samhita. Users can access the commentaries for various verses and texts given in the books.
Another offering by AVP is the Clinical Documentation System which can be used by hospitals to record their ongoing clinical practice. It is a single source of practical based clinical outcomes available free of cost that can be used by practising Ayurvedic physicians either in private or in hospitals.
Since ayurvedic physicians document diagnosis and treatment in a limited format, not amenable to collation and analysis, AVP provides a standard format to authenticate each patient’s diagnosis and treatment besides update the same during each visits of the patient. The tool also provides necessary flexibilities including side effects seen during the treatment. It also enables collation and analysis of the data under different pre-decided headings,” said Dr Manohar, who is one of the members of the team who led the project.
A pilot of this tool was tested for over five years at AVP’s hospital at Coimbatore and also tested at centres including National Institute of Ayurveda, Jaipur. The revised IT Tool has a version for use by individual practising physicians which is provided free of cost, he said.
AVP has an IT tool version to document data of large number of patients examined by many physicians in a hospital which is based on payment basis. As a gesture to mark one decade of research contribution in Ayurveda, this is being made available with 80 per cent discount to interested hospitals 2013-end. This would help generate useful onsite data similar to phase IV study commonly adopted in pharmaceutical drug development. It will help generate safety and efficacy data on ayurvedic treatments are the procedures undergo on patients.
Efforts are on to develop IT tools and databases offered on specific subscriptions/ payment basis providing information on specific diseases, herbal formulations and treatment modalities, said Dr Manohar.
Source:Pharmabiz

A neural basis for benefits of meditation

Mindfulness meditation training in awareness of present moment experience, such as body and breath sensations, prevents depression and reduces distress in chronic pain. In a new paper, Brown University scientists propose a neurophysiological framework to explain these clinical benefits.

A matter of sensory cortical alpha rhythmsRepeated local sensory focus — on a hand, say — develops control over underlying neurophysiological mechanisms that may help manage chronic pain or other problems.PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Why does training in mindfulness meditation help patients manage chronic pain and depression? In a newly published neurophysiological review, Brown University scientists propose that mindfulness practitioners gain enhanced control over sensory cortical alpha rhythms that help regulate how the brain processes and filters sensations, including pain, and memories such as depressive cognitions.The proposal, based on published experimental results and a validated computer simulation of neural networks, derives its mechanistic framework from the intimate connection in mindfulness between mind and body, since standardized mindfulness meditation training begins with a highly localized focus on body and breath sensations. This repeated localized sensory focus, the scientists write, enhances control over localized alpha rhythms in the primary somatosensory cortex where sensations from different body are “mapped” by the brain.In effect, what the researchers propose in their paper in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, is that by learning to control their focus on the present somatic moment, mindfulness meditators develop a more sensitive “volume knob” for controlling spatially specific, localized sensory cortical alpha rhythms. Efficient modulation of cortical alpha rhythms in turn enables optimal filtering of sensory information. Meditators learn not only to control what specific body sensations they pay attention to, but also how to regulate attention so that it does not become biased toward negative physical sensations such as chronic pain. The localized attentional control of somatosensory alpha rhythms becomes generalized to better regulate bias toward internally focused negative thoughts, as in depression.“We think we’re the first group to propose an underlying neurophysiological mechanism that directly links the actual practice of mindful awareness of breath and body sensations to the kinds of cognitive and emotional benefits that mindfulness confers,” said lead author Catherine Kerr, assistant professor (research) of family medicine at the Alpert Medical School and director of translational neuroscience for the Contemplative Studies Initiative at Brown. In experiments that Kerr and neuroscientist co-authors Stephanie Jones and Christopher Moore have published over the last few years, the team has used a brain imaging technology called magnetoencephalography (MEG) to show that alpha rhythms in the cortex correlate with sensory attention and that the ability to regulate localized alpha brainwaves on a millisecond scale is more distinct in people who have had standardized mindfulness training than in those who have not. The trio led these experiments at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard, and Massachusettes General Hospital before they all came to Brown in 2011.In one experiment published in the Journal of Neuroscience in 2010, they observed that when people focused their attention on sensations in the left hand, the corresponding “map” for the hand in the cortex showed a marked drop in alpha wave amplitude (as if to reduce filtering there). When the subjects’ attention shifted away from that body part, the alpha rhythm amplitude in the corresponding brain map went back up (as if restoring the alpha filter). Other research groups have shown this to be the case for other kinds of attention-related tasks including focusing spatial attention and working memory.Then in 2011 in Brain Research Bulletin, the team published another paper. They randomized subjects to eight weeks of mindfulness training versus a control group. In MEG, they asked members of each group to focus attention on sensations in their hand and then to switch their attention to their foot. The people trained in mindfulness displayed quicker and larger changes in alpha wave amplitude in their brain’s hand map when they made the attentional shift than the six people who did not have mindfulness training.Mindful computational modelIn addition to the emerging experimental evidence, the research framework is also informed by a computer model that Jones has developed to simulate the alpha brainwaves through reciprocal interactions between the cortex, which processes information and thoughts, and the thalamus, which is like a switchboard that mediates information flow from the rest of the brain to the cortex. The model is well validated in that it produces alpha rhythms that closely match those observed in live MEG scans of real subjects.Jones, assistant professor (research) of neuroscience, did not originally develop the model to aid meditation research.“We were investigating what are the brain mechanisms that can create this prominent alpha rhythm and mediate its impact on sensory processing,” Jones said. “The model simulates the electrical activity of neural networks and makes very specific predictions about how this rhythm is generated. Once we understand the brain processes regulating alpha rhythm expression, we can better understand how it can be modulated with mindfulness practice and why this is beneficial.”Among the most important predictions is one that could explain how gaining control of alpha rhythms not only enhances sensory focus on a particular area of the body, but also helps people overcome persistent competing stimuli, such as depressive thoughts or chronic pain signals.To accomplish this, the model predicts, meditators must achieve proper control over the relative timing and strength of alpha rhythms generated from two separate regions of the thalamus, called thalamic nuclei, that talk to different parts of the cortex. One alpha generator would govern the local “tuning in,” for instance of sensations in a hand, while the other would govern the broader “tuning out” of other sensory or cognitive information in the cortex.It’s a bit like focusing a telescope by precisely aligning the position of two different lenses. The authors’ framework hypothesizes that experienced meditators gain the ability to turn that proverbial focus knob to align those different rhythms.Working with the framework
In the new paper the authors propose that training chronic pain patients in the standardized mindfulness techniques of focusing on and then focusing away from pain, should result in MEG-measurable, testable improvements in alpha rhythm control.“By this process of repeatedly engaging and disengaging alpha dynamics across the body map, according to our alpha theory, subjects are re-learning the process of directly modulating localized alpha rhythms,” they wrote. “We hypothesize that chronic pain patients trained in mindfulness will show increased ability to modulate alpha in an anticipatory tactile attention paradigm similar to that used in [the 2011 study].”Many such experiments are yet to be done, Kerr acknowledges, and her group can only do so many.“There are a number of hypotheses in this framework that can be tested,” Kerr said. “That’s one of the reasons we wanted to put this out as a framework. It is beyond our ability to test all of these ideas. We wanted to make this available to the scientific field and present this unified view.”In addition to Kerr, Jones, and Moore, the paper’s other authors are Matthew Sacchet of Stanford University and Sara Lazar of Massachusetts General Hospital.The team’s research has received support from the National Institutes of Health, the Hershey Family Foundation, and the Osher Institute.

Source:Brown University

Teaching Children to Eat Healthy may Well Start from the Womb

This is a good tip for all those pregnant women to help their unborn children develop a preference for healthy food like vegetables and fruits.
The good way to inculcate healthy eating may well start from the womb, researchers said as the type of food a woman consumes during her pregnancy, has an impact on the taste the child develops later on in life. 
Many mothers struggle with getting their children to eat healthy green vegetables and the secret to this is to ensure that they eat well themselves, especially when they are pregnant. 
"The good news is research shows that babies and their palates can learn very early on about good food, even before their first mouthful," said Julie Mennella, a developmental biologist at the Monell Chemical Senses Centre in Philadelphia.
"Even before a child eats their first mouthful of food, they are learning about flavor through the amniotic fluid in the womb, and later through their mother's milk. Regardless of whether a child is breast or bottle-fed, it can still learn as soon as it starts to wean. If they are repeatedly exposed to fruit and vegetables early on, then they soon begin to accept these foods. Eat a variety of healthy foods that you enjoy while pregnant and breastfeeding and once your child starts eating solid foods give them repeated opportunities to taste these foods so they can grow to learn to like its tastes," she added.

 

New Rice Variety for Dieters

A new variety of rice from UK has negligible calorie count - only 7.7 per 100 grams as compared to 350 for white basmati.Named Slim Rice, it helps you feel full while barely registering on your waistline. Regular boiled rice contains 64 percent water, while precooked Slim Rice is made up of 97 percent water and the Asian root konjac. 
Some nutritionists claim that vegetable extract konjac, also known as Moyu, can stabilise blood-sugar levels and prevent hunger pangs and over-eating. The unusual product smells strongly of starch and needs to be rinsed at least twice under warm water to remove its distinctive odour. 
Advocates claim the rice, which is chewier than normal varieties, tricks your brain into thinking you have eaten a full meal. A single portion can create the sensation of being full for up to four hours, the Daily Mail reports. 
However, Tam Fry from the National Obesity Forum, said: "There are nasty side effects to konjac. It will make you feel fuller but doesn't do much for you. Konjac is an appetite suppressant and people will eat it thinking they will get slim but might not be aware they could be starving themselves of nutrients."
Source-IANS
  

Separate Drug Controller for AYUSH related Medicine Planned in India

The union health ministry in India is planning to set up a separate central drug controller for traditional systems of medicine and homeopathy to keep pace with global developments in drug control."India has a pluralistic healthcare delivery system where the government provides opportunity to every recognised medical system to develop and practice, with a view to provide integrated and holistic healthcare services," Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said Wednesday inaugurating the International Conference on Traditional Medicine for South East Asian Countries here. 
"The aim is to provide accessible, affordable, safe and quality healthcare to the people, he said." 
Azad said all these medical systems are being utilised in the national healthcare delivery system, each to its potential and availability in different parts of the country. 
The process of mainstreaming has been further augmented under the National Rural Health Mission, with co-location of traditional medicine and homeopathy facilities in the primary health network and capacity building of AYUSH practitioners in the national programmes of Reproductive and Child Health, Safe Child Birth, School Health, Anemia control and Malaria eradication, he said. 
The minister said AYUSH doctors are now actively involved in national health programmes pertaining to reproductive and child health, school health, anaemia control and immunisation. 
The government is planning to set up a separate central drug controller for traditional systems of medicine and homeopathy, senior officials said. 
The decision was taken during an conference of traditional medicine in South East Asian countries. 
The conference was attended by health ministers of Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. The ministers of indigenous medicine, Sri Lanka and other south east Asian countries, were also present. 
India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bangladesh to cooperate in traditional medicine in the areas of exchange of health professionals, development of human resources and research. 
The MoU was signed by Azad and A.F.M. Ruhal Haque, health minister of Bangladesh. 
The parties also decided to promote cooperation between the two countries in the fields of health and medical sciences. 
Azad further said that the South-East Asian (SEA) countries have a rich heritage of several systems of traditional medicine. They have vast resources of medicinal plants and huge repositories of knowledge.
Source-IANS

 

 

Women Behave Differently to Men

According to a new book, women behave differently to men because their brains are wired completely uniquely.
Men and women are equally smart, but each sex uses different parts of the brain to solve problems or achieve goals, explained neuroscientist Daniel G. Amen in his new book, Unleash The Power Of The Female Brain. 
Women are better at packing carefully for a family holiday because they have more brain cells in the pre-frontal cortex, the area which controls judgement, planning, and conscientiousness, he said. 
Men can be more volatile and swift to anger in a crisis. It's may be because the part of their brain, the amygdala, which processes fear and anger, is much larger than a woman's, according to the book. 
The human brain is made up of grey matter (brain cells) that does the thinking, and white matter (the communication cables between brain cells), which connects different bits of the brain. 
Studies have now shown that grey and white matter are differently distributed in men and women, which has massive implications for the way they behave, G. Amen noted. 
Because men have more grey matter in the bit of the brain that governs intelligence, they are inclined to tackle a task with single-minded focus, not taking into account the peripheral issues that a woman might consider to be important. 
On the other hand women have more white matter in the part of the brain that governs intelligence, this is the reason why when women tackle a problem, they draw on many areas at the same time, he said. 
Science have also proved that women have far more cells in the part of the brain that controls empathy, which explains why they cry more often in sad movies. 
There is something unique about the structure and functioning of the female brain which gives women a distinct advantage when it comes to intuition. 
Scans show that when women are thinking, they dip into the right side of the brain, which specialises in emotional issues. This makes women much better at picking up on cues, such as body language or tone of voice, that men may miss. 
Scans confirm that women have larger areas in the brain dedicated to tracking gut feelings, which is why they're quicker at working out what others are thinking and reach conclusions based on hunches. 
Women find it easier to keep strong negative emotions in check because the area of the brain, which deals with anger and aggression, tends to be larger in women than men, the author said. 
Brain scans also showed that when a woman is feeling aggressive, she's much more likely to launch a verbal attack - using the highly active language part of her brain - than a physical one. 
Moreover, women generally have lower levels of the brain chemical serotonin than men, and low levels are normally associated with over-activity in the brain's worry centres, the book stated.
Source-ANI